“Chance and reasoning, sir; and by reasoning even more than by chance. Not only does this passage exist, but I have profited by it several times. Without that I should not have ventured this day into the impassable Red Sea. I noticed that in the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean there existed a certain number of fishes of a kind perfectly identical. Certain of the fact, I asked myself was it possible that there was no communication between the two seas? If there was, the subterranean current must necessarily run from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, from the sole cause of difference of level. I caught a large number of fishes in the neighbourhood of Suez. I passed a copper ring through their tails, and threw them back into the sea. Some months later, on the coast of Syria, I caught some of my fish ornamented with the ring. Thus the communication between the two was proved. I then sought for it with my _Nautilus;_ I discovered it, ventured into it, and before long, sir, you too will have passed through my Arabian tunnel!” CHAPTER V THE ARABIAN TUNNEL That same evening, in 21° 30′ N. lat., the _Nautilus_ floated on the surface of the sea, approaching the Arabian coast. I saw Djeddah, the most important counting-house of Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and India. I distinguished clearly enough its buildings, the vessels anchored at the quays, and those whose draught of water obliged them to anchor in the roads. The sun, rather low on the horizon, struck full on the houses of the town, bringing out their whiteness. Outside, some wooden cabins, and some made of reeds, showed the quarter inhabited by the Bedouins. Soon Djeddah was shut out from view by the shadows of night, and the _Nautilus_ found herself under water slightly phosphorescent. The next day, the 10th of February, we sighted several ships running to windward. The _Nautilus_ returned to its submarine navigation; but at noon, when her bearings were taken, the sea being deserted, she rose again to her waterline. Accompanied by Ned and Conseil, I seated myself on the platform. The coast on the eastern side looked like a mass faintly printed upon a damp fog. We were leaning on the sides of the pinnace, talking of one thing and another, when Ned Land, stretching out his hand towards a spot on the sea, said: “Do you see anything there, sir?” “No, Ned,” I replied; “but I have not your eyes, you know.” “Look well,” said Ned, “there, on the starboard beam, about the height of the lantern! Do you not see a mass which seems to move?” “Certainly,” said I, after close attention; “I see something like a long black body on the top of the water.” And certainly before long the black object was not more than a mile from us. It looked like a great sandbank deposited in the open sea. It was a gigantic dugong!